Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 9:29 p.m.

TUXEDO — High in the woods surrounding Deerwood Nursery & Farms, a pack of coyotes has staked a claim in the southern end of Henderson County. Every so often, one will venture out in plain sight and grab a chicken from farmer Rick Jordan's flock.

"We do have a lot of them," said Jordan, who raises pastured poultry, pork and lamb on Anders Road. "They seem to run in cycles. For a while, they'll be pretty tough and then they'll lay off. We even have problems with them eating sweet corn out in the fields. I've got them on camera pulling down corn and eating it."

Jordan's Pyrenees guardian dog, Biscuit, helps keep the coyotes at bay as he makes his nightly patrol around a 12-acre perimeter of roosting poultry, but the farm still needs the services of a licensed trapper to keep the predators under control.

With characteristic wiliness, though, the coyotes have adapted to Biscuit's schedule.

"I think they've acclimated to how my dogs move," Jordan said. "Typically, you think of coyotes as hunting more in the evening and early morning. But I've been seeing them more between 11 o'clock to 2 in the afternoon, when the guardian dogs are usually laid up."

Absent here 35 years ago, crafty coyotes now inhabit much of Henderson County, wildlife biologists say, immigrating gradually to Western North Carolina from their native midwest or introduced by hunters. And the opportunistic omnivores are here to stay, experts say, even as they keep a low profile.

Their adaptable nature, indiscriminate eating habits and fecundity has allowed coyotes to thrive in a wide range of settings. Though the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has no population estimates by county, biologists say coyotes now inhabit almost every part of Henderson County, from sod farms in Mills River to Hendersonville subdivisions.

The county has "a lot of fragmented habitat with houses," said Carlton Burke, a naturalist/educator based in Mills River. "(Coyotes) like that kind of area. When you fragment habitat, you get more berry-producing shrubs, more rabbits, more raccoons, and coyotes would benefit from that."

Just because you haven't seen a coyote in your subdivision doesn't mean they aren't there, said Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

"Coyotes can live in a neighborhood and people never even know they're there," he said. "They're mostly nocturnal and people just don't see them much."

Two years ago, Burke even saw a coyote on the streets of Charlotte.

"He ran down the sidewalk and ducked into a little park-like area," he said. "They can live in these little pocket habitats."

The first sign of neighborhood coyotes is often a missing pet, biologists say.

"They've been known to grab outdoor cats or other pets that roam freely," Burke said. "They'll make a meal out of anything."

Indeed, most of the 10 to 12 calls Carraway gets each year regarding coyotes are related to missing pets, though some callers are more alarmed.

"We have people who call and complain about wolves being here," he said. "We don't have wolves here. What they're seeing are coyotes, or coydogs, which are a coyote-dog hybrid."

Even county commissioners aren't immune to the effects of local coyotes. On Monday, they voted to allow residents adjoining a 130-acre piece of county-owned property in the Bent Creek area of Buncombe County to apply for permission to "remove and humanely dispose of coyotes" there.

Residents complained to Chairman Charlie Messer that coyotes were coming off the county's Bent Creek property — conveyed to Henderson County by the city of Asheville in 1999 as part of a regional water and sewer authority deal that remains unresolved — and killing their chickens.

"They also had some small kids that they were concerned about," Messer said.

Commissioner Grady Hawkins said allowing Bent Creek residents to deal with coyotes living on county-owned land was "appropriate, particularly in an area where there isn't much deer hunting." Coyotes have become such a nuisance, he said, that Cherokee tribal officials recently began paying a $25 bounty on each one killed.

Bent Creek resident Nina Fountain, who owns land on Dry Ferry Road not far from the county's wooded parcel, said her associate pastor at Bent Creek Baptist Church has spotted coyotes roaming the church's grounds on security cameras.

"There is a pack of coyotes through there and we know there are bobcats, quite a few deer, there are foxes," Fountain said. "It could be any one of those taking (the chickens.)"

While hunting may help alleviate problems for awhile, Carraway and Burke warned that coyotes are almost impossible to eliminate, even with state laws allowing hunters to shoot them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (hunting on Sundays is only allowed on private land with archery equipment).

"It doesn't hurt to hunt them, but they're so numerous now that it's probably a drop in the bucket," Burke said.

<p>TUXEDO — High in the woods surrounding Deerwood Nursery & Farms, a pack of coyotes has staked a claim in the southern end of Henderson County. Every so often, one will venture out in plain sight and grab a chicken from farmer Rick Jordan's flock.</p><p>"We do have a lot of them," said Jordan, who raises pastured poultry, pork and lamb on Anders Road. "They seem to run in cycles. For a while, they'll be pretty tough and then they'll lay off. We even have problems with them eating sweet corn out in the fields. I've got them on camera pulling down corn and eating it."</p><p>Jordan's Pyrenees guardian dog, Biscuit, helps keep the coyotes at bay as he makes his nightly patrol around a 12-acre perimeter of roosting poultry, but the farm still needs the services of a licensed trapper to keep the predators under control.</p><p>With characteristic wiliness, though, the coyotes have adapted to Biscuit's schedule.</p><p>"I think they've acclimated to how my dogs move," Jordan said. "Typically, you think of coyotes as hunting more in the evening and early morning. But I've been seeing them more between 11 o'clock to 2 in the afternoon, when the guardian dogs are usually laid up."</p><p>Absent here 35 years ago, crafty coyotes now inhabit much of Henderson County, wildlife biologists say, immigrating gradually to Western North Carolina from their native midwest or introduced by hunters. And the opportunistic omnivores are here to stay, experts say, even as they keep a low profile.</p><p>Their adaptable nature, indiscriminate eating habits and fecundity has allowed coyotes to thrive in a wide range of settings. Though the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has no population estimates by county, biologists say coyotes now inhabit almost every part of Henderson County, from sod farms in Mills River to Hendersonville subdivisions. </p><p>The county has "a lot of fragmented habitat with houses," said Carlton Burke, a naturalist/educator based in Mills River. "(Coyotes) like that kind of area. When you fragment habitat, you get more berry-producing shrubs, more rabbits, more raccoons, and coyotes would benefit from that."</p><p>Just because you haven't seen a coyote in your subdivision doesn't mean they aren't there, said Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. </p><p>"Coyotes can live in a neighborhood and people never even know they're there," he said. "They're mostly nocturnal and people just don't see them much."</p><p>Two years ago, Burke even saw a coyote on the streets of Charlotte. </p><p>"He ran down the sidewalk and ducked into a little park-like area," he said. "They can live in these little pocket habitats."</p><p>The first sign of neighborhood coyotes is often a missing pet, biologists say. </p><p>"They've been known to grab outdoor cats or other pets that roam freely," Burke said. "They'll make a meal out of anything."</p><p>Indeed, most of the 10 to 12 calls Carraway gets each year regarding coyotes are related to missing pets, though some callers are more alarmed. </p><p>"We have people who call and complain about wolves being here," he said. "We don't have wolves here. What they're seeing are coyotes, or coydogs, which are a coyote-dog hybrid."</p><p>Even county commissioners aren't immune to the effects of local coyotes. On Monday, they voted to allow residents adjoining a 130-acre piece of county-owned property in the Bent Creek area of Buncombe County to apply for permission to "remove and humanely dispose of coyotes" there.</p><p>Residents complained to Chairman Charlie Messer that coyotes were coming off the county's Bent Creek property — conveyed to Henderson County by the city of Asheville in 1999 as part of a regional water and sewer authority deal that remains unresolved — and killing their chickens. </p><p>"They also had some small kids that they were concerned about," Messer said. </p><p>Commissioner Grady Hawkins said allowing Bent Creek residents to deal with coyotes living on county-owned land was "appropriate, particularly in an area where there isn't much deer hunting." Coyotes have become such a nuisance, he said, that Cherokee tribal officials recently began paying a $25 bounty on each one killed. </p><p>Bent Creek resident Nina Fountain, who owns land on Dry Ferry Road not far from the county's wooded parcel, said her associate pastor at Bent Creek Baptist Church has spotted coyotes roaming the church's grounds on security cameras. </p><p>"There is a pack of coyotes through there and we know there are bobcats, quite a few deer, there are foxes," Fountain said. "It could be any one of those taking (the chickens.)" </p><p>While hunting may help alleviate problems for awhile, Carraway and Burke warned that coyotes are almost impossible to eliminate, even with state laws allowing hunters to shoot them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (hunting on Sundays is only allowed on private land with archery equipment).</p><p>"It doesn't hurt to hunt them, but they're so numerous now that it's probably a drop in the bucket," Burke said. </p><p>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>